As pipes are applied to a variety of industrial fields, pipes must to be extended as required. That is, one pipe and another pipe are connected to each other by means of a connector referred to as a fitting, thereby producing a pipe structure having a predetermined length. The fitting used for connecting the pipes is exposed for a prolonged period to vibrations caused by fluid flowing along the pipes, such that the fastening force of the fitting is inevitably reduced.
In this regard, Patent Document 1 of the related art disclosed a pipe fitting-fixing member able to maintain the fastening of the fitting. The pipe fitting-fixing member includes a fixing part having one or more slots and mounting parts on both ends of the fixing part.
Two mounting parts are mounted on a pipe at one side and a pipe at the other side that are to be connected to a penetrating part by means of a fitting. Catch protrusions formed on the bottom of the penetrating part are designed to hold and support the pipes. In addition, according to Patent Document 1, the corners of the fitting member are positioned in the slots of the fixing part in order to prevent the polygonal fitting member from being unfastened through rotation thereof.
It is described in Patent Document 1 of the related art that the pipes extending across the penetrating part are supported by the catch protrusions formed on mounting recesses holding the pipes. However, when the catch protrusions are formed of a hard material, the pipes cannot be fitted into the mounting recesses across the catch protrusions. Alternatively, when the catch protrusions are formed of a soft material, the pipes can be reliably introduced into the mounting recesses. However, it is highly probable that the pipes may be dislodged from the mounting recesses.
In addition, due to the structural characteristics of one or more slots, when the slots are bent (by being warped or deformed) by external force, the slots may not reliably hold the corners of the fitting member positioned between the slots, thereby failing to prevent the fitting member from rotating due to vibration and impacts in the pipes in which fluid flows.
According to the pipe fitting-fixing member disclosed in Patent Document 1 as described above, it is impossible to reliably prevent the fitting member from rotating due to the catch protrusions supporting the pipes, the warping of the slots, and the like. Thus, an approach able to reliably fix the fitting member is required.